The cause turned out not to be a hack, but rather the mismanagement of the Tweetdeck application Gardiner had used for years to send tweets for a variety of different media outlets. In the course of clearing out the old credentials, she said, she accidentally sent out tweet. Because her Tweetdeck was still associated with the Twitter accounts of her old employers or clients, it ended up broadcasting the “f gwenifill” tweet to all of them.